Plug door control mechanism

ABSTRACT

Door operating mechanism particularly adapted for railway house car sliding doors of heavy &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;plug&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; type which are shifted transversely of the wall out of the door opening before movement alongside the car wall and are shifted transversely of the wall into the door opening after movement along the wall from open position to a position abreast of the opening. The mechanism includes means automatically holding the door spaced from the car wall when the door is being moved along the wall, but freely accomodating shifting of the door transversely of the wall out of and into the door opening when the door is opposite the wall opening.

United States Patent Bollinger, Sr.

[54] PLUG DOOR CONTROL MECHANISM [72] inventor: Luther L. Bollinger, Sr., Reading,

[73] Assignee: Hennessy Products, Incorporated, Chambersburg, Pa.

[22] Filed: Nov. 9, 1970 [2|] Appl. No: 87,856

[52] US. Cl....., ..49/209, 49/362 [5]] Int. Cl. ..E05d 15/10 [58] Field of Search ..49/2l8, 219, 220, 221, 362, 49/209 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,058,860 10/ I936 Fuchs ..49/2 I 9 2,280,232 4/1942 I-Iaseltine ..49l219 1 Aug. 15,1972

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 696,812 9/1940 Germany ..49/2l6 Primary Examiner-Kenneth Downey Attorney-Bede" and Burgess [57] ABSTRACT Door operating mechanism particularly adapted for railway house car sliding doors of heavy plug type which are shifted transversely of the wall out of the door opening before movement alongside the car wall and are shifted transversely of the wall into the door opening after movement along the wall from open position to a position abreast of the opening. The mechanism includes means automatically holding the door spaced from the car wall when the door is being moved along the wall, but freely accomodating shifting of the door transversely of the wall out of and into the door opening when the door is opposite the wall opening.

5 Claim, 5 Drawing figures Patented Aug. 15, 1972 yfnnun PLUG DOOR CONTROL MECHANISM The door and operating mechanism is of the general type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,062 in which the door is mounted on carriages traveling on a track alongside a wall and an elongated rack extends from the rear edge of the door and is engaged by a manually operated gear and pinion for moving the door along the track to positions abreast of or spaced from an opening in the wall.

In railway car plug doors, as here described, there are crank arms pivoted on the carriages for movement of the door transversely of the wall inwardly and outwardly of the opening. In my copending application filed Apr. 27, I970, Ser. No. 32,409, a locking pin or latch has been manipulated manually to hold the door spaced outwardly from the wall during movement along the wall. The present invention obtains the same result automatically by utilizing an arm pivoted at one end to the rack and having a double pin and slot connection near its other end to the door.

The main object of the invention is to obtain such automatic locking and to avoid the necessity of ,a workman keeping in mind the importance of maintaining the door spaced from the wall, and thereby eliminate scraping of the wall by the sliding door.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a selected embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one longitudinal half of a railway house car with a door opening in its side wall and a plug door shiftable transversely of the wall into and out of the opening and movable lengthwise of the wall to a position spaced from the opening.

FIG. 2 is a large scale horizontal section on line 2--2 of FIG. 1 showing the door in fully closed position.

FIG. 3 is a similar section showing the door shifted transversely of the wall and out of the opening in the wall.

FIG. 4 illustrates the pivoting of the arm into a position in which it and the rack form a rigid pull and thrust unit.

FIG. 5 is a detail vertical section on line 5-5 of FIG.

The car body includes an underframe l, and a side wall 3 having the usual door opening normally closed by a door 5. A track 7 on the underframe mounts wheeled carriages 9. Upright shafts 11 have cranks 12 with outer ends journaled in carriages 9. The shafts are journaled on and support the door. Mechanism M including rotatable handles 14 on a threaded nut, and elongated levers 15 provide for manually shifting the door transversely of the wall between the FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 positions. All of the above structure is well known.

A rack bar alongside the wall has openings engaged by the teeth of a gear wheel 22, journaled on the wall and rotatable by a handwheel 23, to feed the rack bar toward and away from the door opening. A link arm has a pivot 26 at one end to rack bar 20, to swing transversely of the bar, and near its other end has two slots 28, 29 receiving studs 31, 32 respectively, fixed in the horizontal flanges 34 of angle brackets 35 on the door.,

Each slot 28, 29 is elongated with rounded ends and has a rounded notch 38, 39 respectively, intermediate its ends. Notch 38 in slot 28 faces in a general direction towards the outer edge of arm 25 (FIG. 2) and notch 39 in slot 29 faces generally in the opposite direction toward the inner edge of arm 25. When the door is in fully closed position (FIG. 2) the studs are at the right hand ends of the slots. When mechanism M is actuated to shift the door outwardly of the opening to the position shown in FIG. 3, arm 25 swings anti-clockwise about pivot 26, and stud 32 and a torsion spring 41 thrusts the arm in the direction of arrow A causing notches 38, 39 to engage the studs.

Upon operation of wheel 23 in a clockwise direction, rack 20 and arm 25 move to the right to the FIG. 4 position and the studs are in the extreme left hand ends of the slots and lock arm 25 against pivoting relative to the door by further movement of the rack bar to the right and, upon continued rotation of wheel 23 clockwise, the rack and arm are a rigid pull unit and there is no tendency to thrust the door against wall 3 during its movement to full open position.

To close the door, hand wheel 22 is rotated in anticlockwise direction and arm 25 slides to the left on studs, 31, 32, until the arm and studs are again in the FIG. 3 position and the rack and arm form a rigid push unit. Continued rotation of wheel 23 moves the door to the left until it is in front of the opening, and its left hand carriage 12 engages a suitable stop on track 7. Then mechanism M is actuated to shift the door transversely into the wall opening to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Throughout movement of the door lengthwise of the wall it is maintained spaced from the wall whether moving away from the opening or towards the opening. Movement transversely of the wall is only effected when mechanism M is actuated by handles 14 and levers 15.

The specific contours of slots 28, 29 are illustrative only and variations in their shapes and in other details may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention which avoids the necessity of manually locking the offset rack bar and connecting arm to effect a straight pull and thrust on the door by manipulating a locking pin as shown at 21 in the earlier application mentioned above.

I claim:

1. In mechanism for moving a door along a wall having an opening which receives the door by shifting the door transversely of the wall when abreast of the opening, an elongated horizontal bar extending alongside the door, a device for moving said bar lengthwise, an arm forming an extension of said bar and having an end pivoted to one end of said bar, said bar having elongated slots near its opposite end, a door bracket with spaced upright studs fixed on the door and slidable in respective slots in said arm, each of said slots having a notch intermediate its ends, said notches and studs accommodating swinging of said arm about its pivot on said bar by transverse shifting of the door but resisting pivotal movement of said arm relative to said bar by movement of said bar in a direction lengthwise of said bar when said studs are seated in said notches.

2. Mechanism as described in claim 1 in which each slot has a notch in one side intermediate its ends, the notch in one slot opening transversely of the length of the slot towards one edge of the arm and the notch in the other slot opening transversely of the length of the slot towards the other edge of the arm, the distance between the notches in the two slots corresponding to the distance between said studs.

3. Mechanism as described in claim 1 which includes a spring element between the bar and the arm thrusting the arm about its pivot on the bar to engage said notches with said studs as when the studs are abreast of the notches.

4. An elongated structure applicable to a railway car door for exerting pull and thrust lengthwise thereof and having two sections pivoted together intermediate the outer ends of the structure, and means automatically locking the two sections against relative angular movement comprising a pair of studs spaced apart lengthwise of one of said sections, a pair of slots similarly spaced apart in the other of said sections and slidably receiving said studs, there being lateral notches in the sides of said slots intermediate their ends and engaging said studs when the sections are moved lengthwise of each other to hold the sections against pivotal movement by relative longitudinal movement of the sections.

5. Mechanism for moving a railway plug door from a position within and closing an opening in a car side wall to a position alongside the wall spaced from such opening, comprising a force-multiplying device to be mounted on the wall, an elongated thrust member actuated by said device for lengthwise movement, a hingelike arm extending lengthwise from an end of said member, a pivotal connection between said member end and an end portion of said arm so that the other end portion of said arm may swing transversely of said member, a bracket for application to the door and having a horizontal flange, said hinge like arm having a pair of spaced apart slots, studs similarly spaced apart in the bracket flange and slidable in respective ones of said slots, said arm being movable about said pivotal connection when said bracket is moved transversely of the thrust member to thereby shift said studs lengthwise of said slots, and said arm being locked against pivotal movement, transversely of said thrust member, when said arm is moved lengthwise of said slots but accomodating pivotal movement of said arm relative to said thrust member by the movement of said bracket transversely of the length of said thrust member. 

1. In mechanism for moving a door along a wall having an opening which receives the door by shifting the door transversely of the wall when abreast of the opening, an elongated horizontal bar extending alongside the door, a device for moving said bar lengthwise, an arm forming an extension of said bar and having an end pivoted to one end of said bar, said bar having elongated slots near its opposite end, a door bracket with spaced upright studs fixed on the door and slidable in respective slots in said arm, each of said slots having a notch intermediate its ends, said notches and studs accommodating swinging of said arm about its pivot on said bar by transverse shifting of the door but resisting pivotal movement of said arm relative to said bar by movement of said bar in a direction lengthwise of said bar when said studs are seated in said notches.
 2. Mechanism as described in claim 1 in which each slot has a notch in one side intermediate its ends, the notch in one slot opening transversely of the length of the slot towards one edge of the arm and the notch in the other slot opening transversely of the length of the slot towards the other edge of the arm, the distance between the notches in the two slots corresponding to the distance between said studs.
 3. Mechanism as described in claim 1 which includes a spring element between the bar and the arm thrusting the arm about its pivot on the bar to engage said notches with said studs as when the studs are abreast of the notches.
 4. An elongated structure applicAble to a railway car door for exerting pull and thrust lengthwise thereof and having two sections pivoted together intermediate the outer ends of the structure, and means automatically locking the two sections against relative angular movement comprising a pair of studs spaced apart lengthwise of one of said sections, a pair of slots similarly spaced apart in the other of said sections and slidably receiving said studs, there being lateral notches in the sides of said slots intermediate their ends and engaging said studs when the sections are moved lengthwise of each other to hold the sections against pivotal movement by relative longitudinal movement of the sections.
 5. Mechanism for moving a railway plug door from a position within and closing an opening in a car side wall to a position alongside the wall spaced from such opening, comprising a force-multiplying device to be mounted on the wall, an elongated thrust member actuated by said device for lengthwise movement, a hinge-like arm extending lengthwise from an end of said member, a pivotal connection between said member end and an end portion of said arm so that the other end portion of said arm may swing transversely of said member, a bracket for application to the door and having a horizontal flange, said hinge like arm having a pair of spaced apart slots, studs similarly spaced apart in the bracket flange and slidable in respective ones of said slots, said arm being movable about said pivotal connection when said bracket is moved transversely of the thrust member to thereby shift said studs lengthwise of said slots, and said arm being locked against pivotal movement, transversely of said thrust member, when said arm is moved lengthwise of said slots but accomodating pivotal movement of said arm relative to said thrust member by the movement of said bracket transversely of the length of said thrust member. 